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Now Hear This: Fender is no longer a guitar company

Posted by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on January 27, 2010 at 3:45pm in Other stuff - off topic, fun stuff, whatever

Okay, follow the progression with me:

 

1.  Leo Fender comes up with a new innovative design that would revolutionize the guitar forever (about the same time as Les Paul, but whatever).

 

2.  Fender company starts making guitars.  They are specifically designed to cut costs and be easier to repair but they are still hand made by honest to god luthiers and are pretty damned good instruments.

 

3.  Utilzing new breakthroughs in CNC technology, low cost labor, globalization, and outsourcing, the Fender guitar morphs into a computer generated piece of plastic, thereby cementing the company's new status as a widget manufacturer.

 

4.  Mobile phones?  Really?  http://www.t-mobilemytouch.com/?WT.mc_id=720m3

 

From this point forward, anyone that tries to extol to me personally the virtues of the Fender guitar will be mocked and scoffed at with extreme humor (I will not insert myself into conversations that others are holding).

 

Just a fair bit of warning - don't bring up Fender to me without being ready to hear me go off on a rant.

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Replies

  • Perfesser Blue February 7, 2010 at 8:49pm
    Warwick bass is a company built by the son of the man who built the Framus brand in bavaria by smuggling over 300 east german violin luthiers out just before the iron curtain fell. That kid grew up playing in wood shavings...no wonder he likes to make a good instrument.

    Matt Towe said:
    It's not like the really built the thing. And I gotta admit, the guitard thingie app is kinda cool. I could see the Preacher at church getting on to me for playing it during service.
    But, I feel ya on the fender hatin'.
    I am NOT a Fender fan,
    Peavey is da way to go.
    Although as a bass player I dig Roscoe's ( just a few miles from me btw).
    And Warwicks are just beasts waiting to be unleashed.
    I would trade one of my daughters for a Corvette fretless.

    But if it has a note higher than low G, I'll build my own , thank you very much.


    Matt
  • Bluesdog January 29, 2010 at 3:54pm
    :) I know Josh, i didnt mean you personaly but the general opinion about Fender, i just think its sad that a once very qualative instrument builder's good name get's discredited because of "budget cost's" and "urban hype's", not your opinion on Fender nowaday's. I actualy agree with that. ;)

    Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) said:
    Yeah, I don't want to give off the wrong impression. I didn't always think that Fender made a shitty guitar. If you read my initial post (which started off this whole firestorm), you'll see respect for Leo in numbered items 1 and 2.
  • Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) January 29, 2010 at 1:06pm
    Yeah, I don't want to give off the wrong impression. I didn't always think that Fender made a shitty guitar. If you read my initial post (which started off this whole firestorm), you'll see respect for Leo in numbered items 1 and 2.

    Bluesdog said:
    Well 1 would actualy be Fender Acounting, 2 would be Fender radio services (he even made microphones, amp's and repaird phonograph's there) before he ever made a guitar so i'm not surprized that they picked up other current hypes like novelty phones and such. That's basicly and very sadly what large scale buisnis ethic's are about, following and making money of what's currently popular or needed among consumer target group's.


    Leo Fender was a handyman and hobbyist/amateur electrician/inventor more than a real guitarbuilder or buisnissman (i bet he would love this site) but even he left the compagny after seeing the quality of his instrumentdesign's rapidly decline since the take over by CBS in '65 (Fender stayed with the compagny as aconsultant from the takeover untill he left). That's why he started "Musicman" wich are very high quality instrument's so i actualy think its sad that the name of a fellow inventor/antrapaneur/different thinker/innovator like all us Cigarbox freaks here at the Cbn is related to the massproduced, money orientated, 13 in a dozin, overpriced low quality for high dollar's guitars and any other hype they can get money out of mentality that the compagny represent's now. That was not what Leo Fender was about, the Fender board of director's should be hung for this i.m.o. *grumble* ...spoiling a great hard working man's legacy like that.

    I own a Strat and a Tele, both cheap-o's but damn they sound good! The strat is an all stock Squier 50th anavercery(1996) and the Tele a stock Caliber (2005, my favorite elec. guitar) i play them both in a band with another guitarplayer who play's a late 2009 Fender strat trough the same amp's (Roland Cube 30's from the rehersal room) and the same setting's, i can honestly say the cheap-o's sound at least just as good if not better to me. Only real hearable difference i hear is the Fender's maple fretboard vs my Rozewood ones, the maple is more trebbly and i actualy hate that!! I like the warmer, fuler tones so i'll stick with my cheap-o-caster's!

    Why buy a new Fender if i think my Squier kick's it's as? I dont need a Fender .....well, maybe one day if i can ever afford it i'd like to have a '52 Fender Tele (ironicly with a maple fretboard) with the baklite pickguard but hey, that's just my holy grail amung electric guitar's, just look at it like wanting to own one of the first Daddy Mojo Dolorosa Reso's in about 60 year's from now :)
  • Bluesdog January 29, 2010 at 7:46am
    Well 1 would actualy be Fender Acounting, 2 would be Fender radio services (he even made microphones, amp's and repaird phonograph's there) before he ever made a guitar so i'm not surprized that they picked up other current hypes like novelty phones and such. That's basicly and very sadly what large scale buisnis ethic's are about, following and making money of what's currently popular or needed among consumer target group's.


    Leo Fender was a handyman and hobbyist/amateur electrician/inventor more than a real guitarbuilder or buisnissman (i bet he would love this site) but even he left the compagny after seeing the quality of his instrumentdesign's rapidly decline since the take over by CBS in '65 (Fender stayed with the compagny as aconsultant from the takeover untill he left). That's why he started "Musicman" wich are very high quality instrument's so i actualy think its sad that the name of a fellow inventor/antrapaneur/different thinker/innovator like all us Cigarbox freaks here at the Cbn is related to the massproduced, money orientated, 13 in a dozin, overpriced low quality for high dollar's guitars and any other hype they can get money out of mentality that the compagny represent's now. That was not what Leo Fender was about, the Fender board of director's should be hung for this i.m.o. *grumble* ...spoiling a great hard working man's legacy like that.

    I own a Strat and a Tele, both cheap-o's but damn they sound good! The strat is an all stock Squier 50th anavercery(1996) and the Tele a stock Caliber (2005, my favorite elec. guitar) i play them both in a band with another guitarplayer who play's a late 2009 Fender strat trough the same amp's (Roland Cube 30's from the rehersal room) and the same setting's, i can honestly say the cheap-o's sound at least just as good if not better to me. Only real hearable difference i hear is the Fender's maple fretboard vs my Rozewood ones, the maple is more trebbly and i actualy hate that!! I like the warmer, fuler tones so i'll stick with my cheap-o-caster's!

    Why buy a new Fender if i think my Squier kick's it's as? I dont need a Fender .....well, maybe one day if i can ever afford it i'd like to have a '52 Fender Tele (ironicly with a maple fretboard) with the baklite pickguard but hey, that's just my holy grail amung electric guitar's, just look at it like wanting to own one of the first Daddy Mojo Dolorosa Reso's in about 60 year's from now :)
  • Tim January 28, 2010 at 9:56am
    they tried on the strat and found out the gennie is out of the bottle on the strat and tele but if you notice all the knockoffs use a diffent head stock thats where fender was able to get there own they have the rights to the strat and tele head stocks. i guess they figured that the diddly wasn't being kocked off so they got the rights to that shape.

    back to cnc theres no reason why you cant do odd scales or diffent neck contours on a cnc infact doing a odd scale is gonna be much easier and much more acurate. im not saying that the human hand shouldnt be there but there are certian things that the machine can do much more accuraly like cutting fret slots. a good cnc set up right is gonna cut the slots closer than you will ever be able to with a miter box. now i have see where people screwed up on a cnc getting there blank out of wack when gluing it up or getting it off center in the maching and well it left less than desirable result and some of that could have been saved if they had been using hand tools they could have ajusted there design and compensated. but i personaly dont have a problem with cnc. what i do have a problem with is companys that try to survive on there name alone fender gibson ibanez jackson and so on. they have all let quality take a dive and started marketing there name
  • Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates January 28, 2010 at 9:25am
    And it ain't like you can't find tons of plans and instructions on how to build one yerself. Strat necks [knockoffs] are a dime-a-dozen on ebay. WTF are they gonna do about that, eh?

    -WY

    Shane Speal said:
    The fuckers laid the order on the one guy... Lenny... because he DARED to advertise in a fucking guitar magazine. It was the reason they were alerted to cigar box guitars. You wanna play a Fender Strat? Build your own and deny them your cash. HA HA HA !!!
    BITE ME, FENDER.
    Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) said:
    No shit? Jesus, just one more reason to hate. There is nothing so wrong, so absolutely fucked up as a company that produces what are supposed to be musical instruments being run by a bunch of god damned lawyers.

    Also, interesting how they don't lay the order on every "custom builder" out there that just copies the strat and tele shapes.The whole god damned industry is incestuous. Makes me feel dirty.

    Shane Speal said:
    Fuck Fender. Fender is part of Fender Musical Instruments Corp. which owns Gretsch. Gretsch threw a cease and desist order against Daddy Mojo because FMIC claimed they owned the GODDAMN RECTANGLE SHAPE of the Bo Diddley guitar. They claimed that every fucking cigar box guitar was a violation of their patent. BTW, I saw the patent for the Bo Diddley Guitar...it is so generalized, anything close to rectangle could qualify. A pure piece of shit.

    Well, Daddy Mojo contacted his lawyers...and he contacted me. We showed FMIC the deep history of cigar box guitars and how they existed not just before the Bo Diddley patent...but way before Fred Gretsch was a twinkle in his daddy's eye.
    Fender can blow me.
  • Roosterman January 28, 2010 at 5:20am
    Ineteresting stuff :o) I sure didnt know the Daddy Mojo story. Pity he couldnt turn it round and sue their asses for something lol

    For me this debate is simples.

    Anything you can make music on can be deemed to be an instrument, made by hand, machine, or accident.

    I just hate strats. Always will. Horrible little guitars....
  • John C Predmore January 28, 2010 at 4:46am
    This makes my day. I love it when the big corperations and thier lawyers get stomped.

    Shane Speal said:
    btw, FMIC backed down after Daddy Mojo bitch slapped them to the floor.
  • Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) January 28, 2010 at 3:01am
    Ah, well. Nobody's perfect.

    But since your CBGs are absolutely beautiful, I'll overlook it just this once :)

    Tom Lanford said:
    All you guitar snobs (CBG, Brand X - Don't matter to me) need to get a grip -As was quoted earlier -

    Much as I love talking, and as much as I love talking about guitars, I'd rather follow Frank's advice anyday: Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar!

    I've got some of them all - expensive collectors items, piece of shit department store guitars from the 50's/60's, modern day $50 Walmart specials, and yes, quite a few CBG's I've built myself entirely by hand. The sound that's comes out of them is what is eventually the only important thing. And that sound is up to you - not the origin of the instrument or the "love that's put into it" when it's created or not.

    It's the love that you as the player put into it, and the dedication it takes to become a better musician, that is the only important thing in the long run. The right player can make that cheap piece of crap, made without love guitar, sound like a million bucks and the vice versa is equally true (and a lot more common).

    My 2 cents - take it or leave it
  • colin mcgrath January 28, 2010 at 2:35am
    Since I am bored and like a discussion I will say that I am a snob. There are things I will not do or stores I will not buy from, some for logical reasons other than snobbery. I do agree with you on a whole tom. Personally I do not like fenders (mostly the way they look). And honestly I am a cheap-skate, hince the attraction to building cigar box guitars. Also I just liked joining in because I love to give the bird to out of control corperations.
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